2024/12/16 by Tian Tang, Yu Duan, Yu‐qiang Ma +1 · 1 voice
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Arithmetic #Astro and Planetary Science #Binary number #Biology #Combinatorics #Computer science #Condensed matter physics #Ecology #Flock #Materials science #Mathematics #Micro and Nano Robotics #Phase (matter) #Physics #Reentrancy #Topology (electrical circuits) #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech #physics.bio-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevresearch.7.023008
arxiv published 2024/12/16 · arxiv updated 2024/12/16 · openalex publication_date 2025/04/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We study a binary metric-free Vicsek model involving two species of self-propelled particles aligning with their Voronoi neighbors, focusing on a weakly nonreciprocal regime, where species <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <a:mi>A</a:mi> </a:math> aligns with both <b:math xmlns:b="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <b:mi>A</b:mi> </b:math> and <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <c:mi>B</c:mi> </c:math> , but species <d:math xmlns:d="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <d:mi>B</d:mi> </d:math> does not align with either. Using agent-based simulations, we find that even with a small fraction of <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <e:mi>B</e:mi> </e:math> particles, the phase behavior of the system can be changed qualitatively, which becomes reentrant as a function of noise strength: traveling bands arise not only near the flocking transition, but also in the low-noise regime, separated in the phase diagram by a homogeneous polar liquid regime. We find that the ordered bands in the low-noise regime travel through an background, in contrast to their metric counterparts. We develop a coarse-grained field theory, which can account for the reentrant phase behavior qualitatively, provided the higher-order angular modes are taken into consideration.